[onewhippedpuppy]

German cars are great to drive, not always so great to own. I've heard a lot of people say they would buy another Jetta, just so it was under warranty. I owned a '99 Audi A4 1.8t, which shares many components with the Jetta and Passat line. Just a few common issues off of the top of my head:

Electrical issues: power seats, displays, etc can go skitzo.
Suspension: pretty much every ball joint, link, tie rod, etc will be shot at 80k. Makes the car clunk and pop.
Turbo: turbos on the 1.8t like to die around 100k.
Sludge: somewhat common on the 1.8t
Timing belt: factory interval was optimistic on the 1.8t models, so many broke timing belts. It's an interference engine, so head rebuild at a minimum.

That's just a few things I can come up with. Great style and quality, but not ideal for a poor college student. Best bet: anything Japanese.